1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus having a memory capable of registering all the operations required for transmission with one-touch keys.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
In functional memory used in conventional facsimile apparatus, contents which can be stored in the memory areas of one-touch keys are limited to telephone numbers (and names) of destinations for transmission.
In such conventional memory, only one function can be registered in the memory area of a one-touch key, and hence a one-touch key and a function have one-to-one correspondence.
With an increase in the number of functions of facsimile apparatus and a decrease in the size thereof, of facsimile apparatus a demand recently has arisen for a decrease in the number of on keys of an operation display section arranged in the apparatus. For this reason, in conventional apparatus, a plurality of keys are combined to store and reproduce a required number of functions.
Consequently, key operation becomes complicated. A strong demand, therefore, has arisen for a one-touch key capable of storing a plurality of functions in its memory area. Such a one-touch key is advantageous in that necessary functions can be quickly reproduced without a complicated operation sequence.
In a conventional facsimile apparatus, however, a one-touch key and a function have one-to-one correspondence. Since two key operations for, e.g., selecting a phone number and a line density are often required in transmission, operation becomes complicated in spite of the use of one-touch keys. If an apparatus is designed such that a plurality of desired functions can be stored in the memory area of a one-touch key, it is difficult to ensure a required memory capacity.
In the conventional apparatus, according to the relationship between a one-touch key and a function to be stored, one memory area is assigned to one function as shown in FIG. 1. Therefore, the memory capacity of one touch-key must be increased with an increase in the number of functions to be registered in its memory area.
There are almost an innumerable number of combinations of functions. With multi-address calling, about 200 combinations of functions are required. Therefore, if the number of one-touch keys is set to be 40; and the number of functions, 200, and five bytes are assigned to each function, 40 Kbytes are required as a memory capacity for the functions.
In addition, functions are seldom registered in the memory area of a one-touch key to its maximum registration number. That is, memory tends to be wasted.
If the number of functions is limited, the memory capacity can be reduced accordingly. However, since limitation in number of functions means limitation in number of functions to be registered, an original purpose, i.e., easy operation cannot be achieved.